powering a 220v small welder "on board"

is this doable? I have a small 220v DC arc/tig inverter. What would be required to power this out of my Cherokee? are their any 220v dc/ac power inverters made for something like this? Any home brew solutions?

You can buy/make a kit that runs a welder off of your alternator.

those inverters are the first google hit I got too when I was still searching, those have "European style" 220v outlets (whatever that means)... I don't think that's what I need, I also doubt they put out the amps needed for the welder.

No they probably don't have adequate power to feed a welder. A big enough converter will probably be as big as the welder. The suggestion of a welder running off a modified alternator is probably the easiest (look up onboard welder). At least that way you're not converting 12-volts up to 220, only to drop it back down to 30 volts for welding.

If its the harborFreight TIG/ARC welder the input voltage is: 220 volt , 18 amps (which means you need atleast 3960 watts) http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/displayitem.taf?Itemnumber=91811

This might work (although it would be expensive): http://www.survivalunlimited.com/inverters/militarynavy.htm

This would be an interesting idea, but packaging it under hood could be hard http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/Displayitem.taf?itemnumber=45416

read this: http://www.pirate4x4.com/forum/showthread.php?t=527362

89Daytona said:

If its the harborFreight TIG/ARC welder the input voltage is: 220 volt , 18 amps (which means you need atleast 3960 watts) http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/displayitem.taf?Itemnumber=91811
This might work (although it would be expensive): http://www.survivalunlimited.com/inverters/militarynavy.htm

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Yeah, I could get service run out to my shop and wired for not a huge amount more than the cost of 4 or 5 of those.

I have an outbuilding shop that's pretty far from my service, I've run my cheapo 110v flux welder, and small 4gal compressor, + power tools just fine for a while now just using 200' of 12/3 extention cord. The tig on the other hand is a different story, basically I'm looking for the cheapest and most flexible solution besides running 200' of 6/3 which is my last resort at the moment due to the expense of the cable. It's probably my only option besides doing my tig work on the back porch close to the Dryer outlet I'm sure the electrical expert types here will flame away at me about the voltage drop from using 200 feet of 12 guage extention cord but it really is necessity dictating things.

It's a "temporary" shop until I build my new house in next year (which will have an entire Basement Garage shop). So paying to get a new service to it, is something I have to avoid... It's either do it cheap, or don't wrench on my projects for a year.

Anyway "on board" mobility would be worth some added cost for sure, I only need it for SS tubing, nothing over 16g. so I wouldn't even be using half the upper heat range. And yeah it's a Harbor Frieght unit. Yeah it's cheap. Thing is; I can afford better, if I'm willing to make my Wife hate my Jeep hobby :gonnablowI could drop 3 or 4 grand on service, wiring and a nice mig and Tig. Alas 'some people' think houses are more important than Jeeps whad-a-ya-gonna-do :dunno:

89Daytona said:

This would be an interesting idea, but packaging it under hood could be hard http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/Displayitem.taf?itemnumber=45416

Click to expand...

my little brother has something similar to this thit he put on his turbodiesel scout. we bought it in a lot of parts for a tractor and it just sat on a shelf for years . when he got the scout it had space in the engine compartment just beggin for it. you need a hand throttle and sombody under the hood watching the voltage to set it but then it runs all day. just for giggles we rand the miller synchro wave in 220 mode and had no trouble cranking it all the way up. we would never consider that welder as portable, but it is nice to know we could if we had to.